The Wilfrid Laurier University Student’s Union has replaced the upper level floor in the Terrace Foot Court, which cost the union $15,000.

According to WLUSU general manager, Mike McMahon, the previous floor, which was installed in 2000, had worn right down to the concrete in certain areas in front of Mr. Sub and the Pita Shack.

The new floor is a food grade carpet tile, which is square tiles of carpet laid out across the floor.

“We are trying to achieve more of a lounge feel for students,” said McMahon.

“We are trying to do a better job of creating a homelike environment in that space, reducing ambient noise and improving our ability to properly clean that space and have it looking almost new daily.”

McMahon noted that the nice thing about the carpet tile is that each square can be easily replaced in case of a bad spill.

“With the food grade carpet tiles, you can run an automatic floor machine over them to wash them,” added McMahon.

“We’re not going to do it every day, but we have the opportunity to do way better maintenance on it then the floor we had before which needed wax, stripper and other products that are hard on the environment.”

The carpet tile is constructed of sustainable fibres, and cleaning and maintenance is environmentally friendly.

Funding for the floor can from the repair and maintenance section of WLUSU’s budget, which was passed by the board of directors on June 13.